231 Years Ago: A Rush to Ratify the Treaty of Paris

Most students of American history know the story of the signing of the Treaty of Paris at the end of the American Revolution. However, few are aware of the tensions felt by Congress to ratify the treaty in time and the final dramatic race to return the ratified copy to the peace commissioners by the agreed-upon deadline.

In Paris on September 3, 1783, peace commissioners John Jay, John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, and Henry Laurens had at last concluded negotiations with the British delegation. However, the treaty could not be considered a legal, active document until it was ratified by both Congress and King George III within the next six months. Copies of the treaty were immediately sent to both England and America, and Congress, at the time meeting in Princeton, sent messages to all thirteen states to reconvene in Annapolis for the purpose of the document’s immediate ratification.

American painter, and mentor to Charles Willson Peale, Benjamin West captured one of the most well-known images of the Treaty of Paris negotiations. The image depicts American peace commissioners, John Jay, John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, Henry Laurens, and Franklin's secretary, William Temple Franklin. Unable to secure sittings with the British delegation, this painting was famously not completed. American Commissioners of the Preliminary Peace Negotiations with Great Britain by Benjamin West, 1783. Image courtesy of Winterthur Museum and Gardens, 1957.856.

Portrait for the Revolution

Many famous works of art have at one time or another decorated the walls of the Old Senate Chamber. From portraits of the four Maryland signers of the Declaration of Independence, to Charles Willson Peale's Washington, Lafayette, & Tilghman at Yorktown, and Edwin White’s massive Washington Resigning His Commission, the Old Senate Chamber has undergone a multitude of aesthetic changes.

One painting, though, has a particular connection to the room. Charles Willson Peale’s portrait of William Pitt has been in the hands of the state of Maryland since 1774 and was one of the original art pieces to decorate the Old Senate Chamber. While Congress was in session in Annapolis between 1783-1784, it was the Pitt portrait that overlooked such momentous events as George Washington’s resignation and the ratification of the Treaty of Paris.

Charles Willson Peale's William Pitt in the Maryland state art collection. Maryland State Archives, MSA SC 1545-1113.